Award-winning writer and performer Ann Randolph brings her spin on life’s little challenges to the Vineyard with her solo show, Loveland. Ms. Randolph takes the audience along on a cross-country flight described as both hilarious and deeply human. She will offer two shows at the Katharine Cornell Theatre in Vineyard Haven, one this Saturday beginning at 7:30 p.m. and another performance next Saturday, July 13, at the same time.

In an interview from the Berkshires where she is teaching a writing workshop, Ms. Randolph provided some insight as to where she gets her material.

For many, life on Martha’s Vineyard revolves around the beaches. But those seeking a little more stimulation than the sand under their feet should look no further than the Martha’s Vineyard Hebrew Center’s Summer Institute. Every year the Summer Institute presents a variety of films and speakers and this year’s series begins this weekend.

On Sunday night the documentary Hava Nagila opens up the film series. The movie explores the history of the quintessential bar mitzvah song and takes a deeper look at Jewish cultural identity as a whole.

The whistling of fifes, the crack of baseball bats, the streak of fireworks in the night sky — the Island's streets will swell today with the sound

Charlie McDowell knows how to wear pastel, effortlessly. He also knows how to eavesdrop which is how he came upon this new skill. But most importantly, the young author knows how to write.

Mr. McDowell will read from his new book Dear Girls Above me, a roman à clef about how thinking like a couple of girls turned a single guy into a better man, at the Bunch of Grapes Bookstore in Vineyard Haven on July 7 at 7 p.m.

Summer on the Vineyard, riding the wave of July 4th with the traffic, the roundabout and the endless cashing in on another winter of Island absence with three platefuls of fun, one wonders sometimes whether civility has been jettisoned. Perhaps then an evening with Amor Towles the author of Rules of Civility is in order. Mr. Towles, a summer resident of West Chop, will speak on July 11 at 5:30 p.m. at the Federated Church.

Each week the folks at Cinema Circus show a series of short films on Wednesday evening at the Chilmark Community center. The films begin at 6 p.m. but the circus — complete with jugglers, face painters, stilt walkers, food and music — gets under way.